Railroad-crossing signal



Oct. 23, 1928;

C. H. TAYLOR RAILROAD CROSSING SIGNAL Filed May 17, 1927 2 Sheets$heet 1 tot.

0. If. III/3h Oct. 23, 1928.

c. H. TAYLOR RAILROAD CROSSING SIGNAL Filed May 17, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet Patented Get. 23, 1928.

UNETE CHARLES H. TAYLOR, F CALHOUN FALLS, SOUTH CAROLINA.

nArLnoAn-onossme SIGNAL.

Application filed. May 17,

This invention relates to vehicle energy actuated signal devices for railroad crossings and has for its object to provide a construction which will be more economical in cost and more etlicient in operation than those heretofore proposed.

With these and other objects in View the invention consists in the novel details of coin struction and arrangen'ients of parts more specifically hereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying (lt'ftWlllgS forming a part or" this specification in which like numerals designate like parts in all the views 1 is a perspective view. partially broken away, illustrating the application of this invention to a railroad crossing;

Fin. 2 is a side elevational view of the in,- vention as disclosed Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the parts shown in Fig. 2 taken as on the line 3- thereof and looking in the directionof the arrows;

Fig. 4- is a detail sectional view of an electric circuit closer taken as on the line %4 of 2 and looking in the direction of the Fig. L

arrows v Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of a semaphore at the road crossing and a reset-ting device associated therewith; and

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view of the "ail :o ad trackillustrating the application ot the resetting device thereto. said figure further being an end elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 5.

This device may be applied to either single or double track railroads, although in the drawings onlv one track has been shown for simplicity. This track comprises the usual rails 1 and 2 supported in the u .l manner by t e cross-tiesg and'the limitations of the intersecting roadway are representcd by the lines 4 and In the customary space between two adiaccnt cross-ties at a point r latively remote irom the crossing and in close prox- I v to one of the rails such as 1. is disposed a support 8 preferably of cement toran operating; lever 9 pivoted as at lOto said support. said lever comprising a relatively short power arm 11 and a relatively long work arm 12, oneon either side of the pivot 10. The support 8 is placed to some considerable depth in the ground so that it will be substantially immovable and the pivot 10 is so arranged. that the upper surface of the power arm 11 of 1927. Serial No. 192,012.

the lever 9 will lie in substantially a horizon tal plane under and in contact with the bot tom surface of the rail 1 of the track, the

entire lever extending laterallv away from said track.

The end of the long arm 12 of said lever is pivotally connected as at 13 to the bottom end of a substantially vertical link 14 the upper end of which is pivotally connected as at 15 to the extremity of the short arm 16 of a second power transmitting lever 17 pivoted as at 18 to a supporting post 19 substantially immovable with respect to the ground. The other arm 20 of the lever 17 is much longer than the arm 16 so that the distance traversed through the instrumentality of the lever 17 will he li'illllilpllOfl as was the distance similarly multiplied through the instrumentality of the first mentioned or operating lever 9. i

To the free end of the arm 200 1 the lever 17 is secured one end of a connector which. may be a solid rod, a steel cable. or any other suitable member, the other end of which is secured to one branch of a bell-crank 26 pivotally supported as at 27 to a post 28 placed along side the railroad.

The other branch of the bell-crank 26 has secured thereto one end of a connector 30 which, like the connector 25 may be a rod, a cable. or othersuitable member, the other end of which is attached as at 31 to the end of an operating crank or lever 32 adapted to oscillate the semaphore signal arm about the pivot 34 on the post 35 at the crossing. The connector 30 may be suitably strung along the railroad in any convenient manner either on pulleys, rollers, or otherwise; either close to the ground, or elevated-to suit operating conditions.

From the foregoing and with particular reference to Figs. 2 and 3 it will-be observed that the wheels of the vehicle passing over the track assume positions opposite the operating lever 9, the weight of said vehicle will be transferred to the rail 1 causing a movement thereof in a direction toward the ground. Stated in other words, it is practically. impossible to construct a railroad track so that there will not be yielding in a vertical direction. No matter how well the ties 3 may be embedded in the ballast of the road bed, there will be a depression of the rails when an object of considerable weight rolls thereover. This vertical depression of a rail Wi l va y in Proportion to the load carried, but depressions of from oneeighth to one-quarter of an inch are not unusual.

Therefore when a vehicle passes over the rail 1, the same will be caused to move clownwardly and, inasmuch as the upper surface of the power arm 11 of the operating lever 9 is in contact with the bottom surface of the rail,'said lever will be oscillated about its pivot. 1(). The ratio of the lever arms 11 and 12 may be made as desired but in actual practice an efficient ratio has been found to be 1 to 8. In other words, the length of the short or power arm 11 is made approximately oneeighth the length of the other or work arm 12, so that the movement of the rail 1 through distance of one-eighth of an inch would cause the link 14, pivotally connected to the extremity of the work arm 12, to move ver tically a distance of one inch. The link 14 is also pivotally connected to the extremity of power arm 16 of the power transmitting lever 17, the arm 16 being substantially one eighth the length of the work arm 20 of said lever, so that the movement of said link through a distance of one inch would cause the extremity of the work arm 20 to move through a distance of eight inches, all as will be readily understood. This movement in turn causes an oscillation of the bell-crank 26 and the operation of the semaphore signal 33 through the instrumentality of the connectors 25 and 30. In other words, when the train passes the lever 9 the semaphore arm 33 will be moved from its depending position shown in F 2 to an elevated position represented by the dotted lines in said figure, where the same will be readily visible to one approaching and attempting to cross the railroad track at the crossing.

It is within the scope of this-invention to also provide at the crossing an audible signal in addition to the visible signal arm 33. The audible signal generally indicated by the numeral 40, may be of any character such as a bell, adapted to be connected in circuit with any suitable source of elcctricpower not illustrated but readily understood. The cleetric circuit will benormally open so that the signal will not be actuated until a train, approaching the crossing, will operate the-levers 9 and 17 as above described. Near the end of the arm 20 of the lever 17 there may be provided a member 41 electrically connected, as through said lever and pivot therefor, to the wire 42 leading to one side of the source of current, not illustrated. From the other side of said source there will be provided a wire 43 for conducting the current to and through the operating mechanism of the audible signal 40, said current leaving said mechanism as over the wire 44 electrically connected to a member 45 adapted to be contacted by the member 41 carried by the lever 17. In other words, when the lever 17 is actuated, the

member 41 will be carried downwardly, see

7 end of the arm 20 of the lever 17 as will be readily understood from the drawings.

The operating lever 9 is preferably located at. a remote point with reference to the cross ing so that a train moving at a considerable speed may actuate the signal device long before the train reaches the crossing, to give an ample warning, will be readily understood. From the above description it will be obvious that the device w'll be continually operated so long as a heavy vehicle is passing over the rail opposite the operating lever 9. train is of sufficient length the signal will be continued at the crossing for a considerable period of time, but in some instances only a locomotive or very short train will be passing over the track. In this instance, the signal will be given at the crossing for a. very short period of tiin so that it would be possible for the locomotive to approach the crossing without giving due warning. Therefore it is very desirable if not absolutely necessary to pro vide for the repeated or continuous functioning of the signal device at. the crossing.

This may be accomplished-in several ways, one of which is illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. That is to say, the operating unit comprising the lever 9 as previously described is located along the track at a remote point from the crossing, the exact position of said location being determinable by the nature of trafiic on the railroad. In addition to this remote operating unit, there may be provided one or more intermediate operating units. That is to say, and with particular reference to Fig. 1, there may be provided. an intermediate operating lever associated with the rail 1 exactly as was the operating lever 9 and a duplicate thereof. Said lever 50 will be connccted as by the link 51 to a power transmitting lever which is a. duplicate of the lever 17, said lever 52 having secured to the end thereof one end of a connector 53 the other end of which is secured to a lug 54 extending outwardly from one of the branches of a bell-crank 55 similar to the bell-crank 26 above described and pivotally supported on an intermediate post 58. Instead of having the one connector o0 between the bell-crank at the remote operating unit and the member 32 secured to the semaphore arm 33, said connector 30 may be replaced as by the connector 56 joining the bell-crank 26 to the crank 55,

If the.

and a second connector 57 joining said bellcrank and the semaphore 33 all as will be clear from Fig. 1. Thus the weight of the vehicle on the track will operate the semaphore arm 33 through the instrumentality of the lever 9 at the. remote unit, and the weight of said vehicle will also operate said semaphore 33 when it passes each of the intermediate ope-rating levers such as 50, thus prolonging the warning.

In the foregoing description the semaphore arm 33 has been given an intermittent oscillatory movement. In Figs. 5 and 6 is disclosed a modification of this invention wherein the semaphore arm will be raised into visual position and left in said position during the approach of a vehicle on the track, said semaphore being reset, or lowered from said visual position when said vehicle reaches a point opposite the semaphore. T his is accomplished by mounting on the pivot a semaphore arm 51 similar to the semaphore arm 33 but having rigidly secured thereto a toothed sector 62 adapted to be engaged by a pawl 63 pivoted as at 6-1 to a. bracket 65 secured to the post 66.

The pawl 63 has rigidly formed therewith a laterally extending lug provided with a pin 71 adapted to work in the slot 72 disposed in the upper end of av substantially vertical link 7 3 the lower end of which is pivotally connected as at 74 to the end of a. lever 75 pivoted as at 7 6 to arigid support 77 therefor, said lever 75 extending beyond said pivot to form the short power arm 78 disposed beneath the rail 1 of the track. In other words, the lever 75 is a substantial duplicate of the operating lever 9. l Vhen the vehicle on the track passes the remote unit,'the connector 30 will raise the semaphore arm 61 from its full line position to the dotted line position shown at 79 in Fig. 5. toothed sector 62 will be partially rotated causing the pawl 63 to slip over the teeth of said sector. However, the sen'ia-phore arm 61 is prevented from accidentally falling from its visual position by said pawl by virtue of the fact that the pivot 64 of said pawl is so disposed, and the shape of the pawl is such, that the weight of the laterally extending lug 70 will cause the pawl 63 to remain in engagement with the toothed sector. This may be stated in other words, namely, the mass of material constituting the lug 7 0 lies to one side of the pivot 6 1, and is of greater weight than the mass of material constituting the toe of the pawl 63 which lies substantially beneath said pivot 64. The result of course is that the weight of the lug 7O overbalances the weight of the toe of the pawl 63 and thus tends to keep said toe in engagement with the teeth of the sector 62. lVith the semaphore arm 61 held in raised position, asat 79,the train or other vehicle may continue in its path toward the crossing without requiring inter- During this movement the mediate operating units. When the vehicle reaches the point opposite the lever'75, the rail 1 will be depressed by the weight of said vehicle causing said lever to oscillate and move the link i 73 upwardly, during which movement the lower extremity of the slot 72 in the end of said link will contact with the pin 71 carried by the lug 70 of the pawl 63, and in the continued upward movement of said link the pawl 73 will be oscillated about its pivot 64 with resultant disengagement of the toe of said pawl from the teeth of the sector 62. Vihen this occurs the semaphore arm 61 will, through its weight, drop to the full line position shown in Fig. 5, remaining there until the next following vehicle operates the mechanism to again raise the same.

All of the foregoing description has been directed to movement of a vehicle on the track in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1. Should the vehicle be moving in the opposite direction it would be desirable to also give a signal at the crossing and this may be readily accomplished by providing similar operatunits along the track. That is to say, at a remote point on the other side of said crossing there may be provided the operating unit 100 exacting similar to the operating unit shown and described in the other figures of the drawings, and at one or more interme diate locations there may be provided an auxiliary operating unit 101 similar to the intermediate operating unit described above. Both the units 100 and 101 will be suitably connected to'bring into vision at the crossing the semaphore arm l02'exactly similar to the semaphore arm 33.

The operating units 100 and 101, as well as the semaphore arm 102 may be disposed on the same side of the track as the operating units previously described, or they may be on the opposite side of the railroad track as con ditions demand, It might be necessary to change or otherwise modify the cxactdctails of each operating unit in order to give a sig nal during the movement of a vehicle on the track, but such change would be within. the scope of this invention and in all probabilitywould consist only in a mere reversal of the details of construction of the operating units 100 and 101. I i

From the foregoing disclosure is will there fore be. seen that by this invention there is provided a warning device for a railroad crossing comprising a signal of either visual. or audible character which is located at the crossing. In combination with this signal there is provided a track including a section of rail for a railroad vehicle said rail se cured as usual to the cross-ties and being undeformed in anymanner for the purpose of this invention, Lastly there is provided means extending betweenv two adjacent crossties to actuate the signal by the weight of the Vehicle on'the section'of the rail, said means coacting with said section through a co-relationship requiring no modification of said rail and cross-ties so that it will be apparent that this device can be installed on an existing railroad without disturbing the construction thereof. In other words the posts 8 and 77 are of dimensions permitting their placement in the usual space between two adjacent cross-ties so that said ties need not be moved or replaced, whereby the rail always has the usual amount of support and therefore will not be subjected to variable or undue strains. These means constitute connections between the signal and the section of the rail, said connection being of a distance multiplying nature and more specifically including compound levers one of which extends beneath and contactingly engages the bottom of said section of rail. This invention thus avoids the heretofore known actuating means which have required a separate section of rail, or a member secured to the rail and adapted to be depressed by an overhanging portion of the Wheel of a vehicle or required some other change or modification in the usual road construction. It also obviates the necessity of providing any auxiliary equipment on the vehicle or roadway or both such as lip-standing or depending members adapted to strike and oscillate a companion member in order to actuate the signal device. In fact this invention is of such character that no change Whatever has tobe made in the rail or the track equipment, or the vehicular equipment so that this device is well adapted for any railroad.

i It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of construction as well as arrangements of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention; thereforev it is not desired to be limited to the foregoing disclosure except as may be required by the claims.

What is claimed is: V

1. In a vehicle energy actuated warning device for a railroad crossing the combination of a signal; an undeformed section of track rail supported at usual intervals and connections between said signal and said section to'actuate said signal by the weight of a vehicle disposed on said section, said connections mountedindependently of said section and its support.

In a vehicle energy actuated warning d vice for a railroad crossing the combination of a signal'located at said crossing; an undeformed section of track rail supported at usual intervals and located at a point remote from said crossing; and connections between said signal and said section to actuate said signal by the weight of a Vehicle disposed on said section, said connections disposed to multiply the deflection of said section and mounted independently oI said section and its support. s

3. In a vehicle energy actuated warning device for a railroad crossing the combination of a signal; an undetormed section of track rail. supported at usual intervals; and connections between said signal and said section and extending beneath the latter to actuate said signal by the weight of a vehicle disposed on said section, said connections disposed to multiply the deflection of said. section and mounted independently of said section and its support.

4. In avehicle energy actuated warning device for a railroad crossing the combination of a signal; an undelormed section of track rail supported at usual intervals; and connections between said signal and said section to actuate said signal by the weight of a vehicle disposed on said section, said connections including a lever extending beneath said sec tion and said connections mounted independently of said section and its support.

5. In a vehicle energy actuated Warning device for a railroad crossing the combination of a signal; an undetormed section of track rail supported at usual intervals; and connections between said signal and said section to actuate said signal by the weight or" a vehicle disposed on said section, said connections including compound levers one of which eX- tends beneath and contactingly engages the bottom of said section and said connections mounted independently of said section and its support.

6. In a vehicle energy actuated Warning device for a railroad crossing the combination of a signal located at said crossing; a track including a supported section of rail for a railroad vehicle; and means coacting with said section to actuate said signal by the weight of said vehicle on said section, said means mounted independently or" said section and its support.

7. In a vehicle energy actuated warning device for a railroad crossing thecombination of a signal located at said crossing; a track including a section of rail for a railroad vehicle, said rail secured as usual to cross-ties;

and means extending between two adjacent cross-ties to actuate said signal by the weight of said vehicle on said section, said means mounted independently of said sectio'nand cross-ties and coacting with said section through a corelationship requiring no modilication of said rail and cross-ties; V

In testimony whereof I affiX my signature.

CHAS. H. TAYLOR 

